PALACIO RUBATO

Aurélien Villette appropriates the architecture of neglected buildings to uncover a forgotten part of our world's heritage (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Oceania). He reveals previously unpublished viewpoints, sometimes going as far as creating confusion between elements of fiction and reality. The photographer is not simply concerned with documentation and perpetuation, but is also interested in the description and the aestheticization of abandoned sites. The play of light and shadow, aging materials, and architectural and structural perspectives are displayed and magnified. The omnipresent silence seems to correspond to a time gone by and means that an enigmatic atmosphere emanates from the images, one that makes the viewer question the past lives and the spirit of these places.

Photographer Aurélien Villette questions the meaning and patrimonial value of ancient abandoned buildings. While the latter represent an era in architectural history, they also bear witness to the specific history of a country, a region or a civilisation. The remains left in these sites are the chronological markers of an era. Ruins become both objects of contemplation and meditation.